Milind Purohit

Professor

PSC 609
Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
(803) 777-6996
e-mail

Positions Held

Professor, University of South Carolina, 1999-present.
Associate Professor, University of South Carolina, 1994-1999.
Assistant Professor, Princeton University, 1988-1994.
Wilson Fellow, Fermilab, 1986-1988.
Research Associate, Fermilab, 1983-1986.

Fellowships & Awards

Michael J. Mungo Graduate Teaching Award, 2012.
DOE's Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, 1989-1994.
R. R. Wilson Fellow, Fermilab, 1986-88.

Education

Ph.D., Experimental High Energy Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. (1983)
M.S., Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. (1978)

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Courses

Electromagnetic Theory I, PHYS 703: Fall 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
Electromagnetic Theory II, PHYS 704: Spring 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009
Undergraduate E & M, PHYS 504: Spring 2007 (also 2006)
Collider Physics, PHYS 745: 2013
Particle Physics I, PHYS 723: 2008 (also 2005, 2003, 2001, 1995).
Particle Physics II, PHYS 724: 2005 (also 2003, 2001, 1996).
Quantum Mechanics I, PHYS 711: Fall 2004 (also 2003 - 1997)
Quantum Mechanics II, PHYS 712: Spring 2005 (also 2004 - 1998)
Undergraduate Quantum, PHYS 502: Fall 2004 (also 2005, 2006)
Mechanics, PHYS 201/211: Fall 1996
E & M, PHYS 212: Fall 2007, Spring 1997
At Princeton:
Graduate Particle Physics, Marion & Thornton based mechanics.
Also Freshman Mechanics and E&M courses.

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When we look out at the universe we see an enormous expanse full of objects like stars, the earth, everyday matter, us. What are all these objects made of? We know that deep down there are atoms, which in turn are made of electrons and nuclei, the latter being composed of nucleons (neutrons and protons). What are nucleons made of? They are made of up and down quarks. These two quarks together with electrons and electron neutrinos make up the first generation of particles. There are two other generations whose particles are heavier versions of these four. The electrically charged particles interact electromagnetically due to photon exchange, the quarks are glued together with gluons and radioactivity occurs due to W and Z boson exchange. To complete this picture (called the Standard Model) we need the Higgs particle.

So what's wrong with this Standard Model? There are many problems. First of all, the Higgs has not been observed experimentally, and it seems to have been introduced in an ad hoc fashion into the model. It gives particles their mass, but is that truly the origin of mass? And if so, how do we explain that fundamental particle masses are so small compared to unification energy scales? And how do we explain the range of masses? Why are there 19 + 7(?) + 9 + parameters in a fundamental theory? Is there really a Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that unifies known forces? How do we explain flavors, generations and so on?

In addition to questions about the Standard Model, there are further questions. Are there extra spacetime dimensions? If so, black holes should be produced at high energy in the lab. Stabilizing the mass of the Higgs requires some new mechanism, perhaps supersymmetry. And what about the widely proclaimed String Theory? Is it real?

We plan to look for answers to all these questions on the ATLAS detector at the LHC. We will search for supersymmetry and other kinds of new physics.

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Selected Recent and Upcoming Publications

"Search for direct CP violation in singly-Cabibbo suppressed D^± to K^±K^±π^± decays" J. P. Lees, ... M. V. Purohit, R. M. White, et al., Phys. Rev. D87, 052010 (2013).
"Track Finding Efficiency in BaBar", ... M. V. Purohit, ... , R. M. White, et al., Nucl. Instr. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 704, 44 (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.11.184
"Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC", ATLAS collaboration, Phys. Lett. B716, 1 arXiv:1207.7214(2012).
"Amplitude Analyses of D Decay Dalitz Plots", M. V. Purohit, in the Proceedings of The 5th International Workshop on Charm Physics (Charm 2012), arXiv:1210.1393 (2012).
"Observation of a new χ_b(3P) state in radiative transitions to Υ(1S) and Υ(2S) at ATLAS", ATLAS collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 152001 arXiv:1112.5154(2012).
"A Study of Form-factors in D⁰ → K⁰_S π^- e⁺ ν_e Decays" H. Liu and M. V. Purohit (2010).
"Cathode strip chambers in ATLAS: Installation, commissioning and in situ performance", T. Argyropoulos et al., IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 56, 1568 (2009).
"The ATLAS Experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider", (ATLAS collaboration), JINST 3, S08003 (CERN-OPEN-2008-020, 2008).
"Averages of b-hadron and c-hadron Properties at the End of 2007" by the Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFAG, E. Barberio et al.), arXiv:0808.1297 (2008).
"Errors on Efficiency" M. V. Purohit (BAD 1652, 2008).
"PID Systematic errors" M. V. Purohit and R. M. White (BAD 1465, 2007).
"Search for Prompt Production of χ_c and X(3872) in e⁺e^- annihilation", B. Aubert et al., Phys. Rev. D 76, 071102(R) (2007).
"SuperB: A High-Luminosity Asymmetric e+ e- Super Flavor Factory, Conceptual Design Report" by M. Bona et al. SLAC-R-856, INFN-AE-07-02, LAL-07-15, arXiv:0709.0451 (2007).
"Measurement of Branching Fractions, Polarizations, and Direct CP-violation asymmetries in BK* and B f₀(980) K* Decays", B. Aubert et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 201801 (2006).
"A Search for CP violation and a measurement of the relative branching fraction in D⁺ → K^- K⁺ π⁺ decays", B. Aubert et al., Phys. Rev. D71:091101 (2005).
"Measurement of the B⁺ / B⁰ production ratio from the υ(4S) meson using B⁺ → J/ψ K⁺ and B⁰ → J/ψ K⁰_S decays", B. Aubert et al., Phys. Rev. D69:071101 (2004).
"Observation of CP Violation in the B⁰ meson system," B. Aubert et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 901801 (2001).
"Multidimensional Resonance Analysis of Λ⁺_c → p K^- K⁺", E. M. Aitala et al., Physics Letters B471, 449 (2000).
"Measurement of the D+s lifetime," E. M. Aitala et al., Physics Letters B445, 449 (1999)
"A Search for D0 - Anti-D0 Mixing and Doubly Cabibbo Suppressed Decays of the D0 in Hadronic Final States," E. M. Aitala et al., Physical Review D57, 13 (1998).
"Search for CP Violation in Charged D Meson Decays," E. M. Aitala et al., Physics Letters B403, 377 (1997).

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Selected Talks

B Physics at ATLAS and CMS, Plenary talk, Chicago 2012 Workshop on LHC Physics (Nov. '12)
USC Colloquium, Nov. 1, 2012: The Higgs-like Particle Found at the Large Hadron Collider
Charm Physics At ATLAS (US ATLAS Annual Meeting, Aug. 2012)
Charm At SuperB, Plenary talk, CHARM 2012 (May '12)
D Dalitz Decays, Plenary talk, CHARM 2012 (May '12)
ATLAS B Physics, Invited talk, SM at the LHC 2012 (Apr '12)
Statistics & SUSY (Sep '09)
Public Lecture on Physics of the LHC (Sep '09)

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Selected Software and Other Resources

Computing for Particle Physics Students
Probability and Statistics for Particle Physics Students
kNN: C++ code for efficient k-Nearest-Neighbors applications in many dimensions: knn08.h and knn08.cc. [2010]
Carolitz: C++ code for Dalitz analyses: Carolitz05.h and Carolitz05.cc. [2010]
Summary of the Physics Ph. D. Graduate Program. [2009]